National news in brief, 10/19

Same-sex marriages will begin within days in New Jersey after the state's highest court ruled unanimously Friday to uphold a lower-court order that gay weddings must start Monday, and to deny a delay sought by Gov. Chris Christie's administration.

"The state has advanced a number of arguments, but none of them overcome this reality: Same-sex couples who cannot marry are not treated equally under the law today," the court said in an opinion by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner. "The harm to them is real, not abstract or speculative."

A judge on the lower court had ruled last month that New Jersey must recognize same-sex marriage and set Monday as the date to allow gay weddings. Christie, a Republican who is considered a possible 2016 presidential candidate, appealed the decision and asked for the start date to be put on hold while the state appeals.

A spokesman for Christie said he will comply with the ruling, though he doesn't like it.

Colorado

Defense wants to bar suspect's email

CENTENNIAL — Lawyers for Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes added his email to the list of evidence they say should not be allowed at his trial.

Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges of killing 12 people and wounding 70 others in the July 2012 attack. Prosecutors are looking for any evidence, such as email, that might show signs of rationality to undermine the insanity defense.

The defense is trying to block the emails, as well as statements Holmes made to police and evidence seized from his car, computers and iPhone.

At a pretrial hearing Friday, defense attorneys said the affidavits and court orders used to obtain the emails were so broad they swept up some emails that merely mentioned Holmes but weren't sent to or from his accounts. Prosecutors said the requests had to be broad because investigators initially didn't know whether Holmes had accomplices.

New York

Baby in bag born alive, suffocated

NEW YORK — A dead baby found in a teenage girl's shopping bag at a lingerie store was born alive and then asphyxiated, police said, as the macabre discovery turned toward a possible homicide case.

Police believe that 17-year-old Tiana Rodriguez gave birth to the baby at a friend's house and that the infant was later asphyxiated. The city medical examiner's office said an autopsy was inconclusive.

Little was immediately clear about the circumstances of Rodriguez' pregnancy and the baby's death.

Rodriguez remained hospitalized Friday.

A security guard found the child's body in a bag Rodriguez was carrying Thursday as she and another 17-year-old girl browsed at a Victoria's Secret store in midtown Manhattan, police said. The guard stopped them, and both were ultimately arrested on petit larceny charges.

Rodriguez told detectives she was carrying the remains because she didn't know what to do, authorities said.